Homeless Rights Assembly Member Mike Essay

Total Length: 867 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 3

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"The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2011" Census.gov (2012): 32, internet, 26 Jun. 2013. Available: http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p60-244.pdf.]

With so many residents facing homelessness, it seems imperative to understand the cost of not implementing the hygiene centers through the local public health departments. When researchers examined the hospitalization rates of homeless persons in Honolulu, Hawaii, they found that hospitalizations in acute-care hospitals occurred at a rate 5.6-fold above the average for state residents.[footnoteRef:6] for psychiatric hospitals, it was 131-fold higher. The estimated cost of the excess hospitalization for the 1,751 homeless persons studied was close to $3.5 million in 1992 dollars. In 2010 dollars,[footnoteRef:7] this would amount to about $4.9 million. Based on a homeless population of 136,000 to 750,000 for the State of California, the excess medical costs associated with homelessness could be somewhere between $381 million and $2.1 billion dollars per year. [6: Jon V. Martell et al., "Hospitalization in an Urban Homeless Population: The Honolulu Urban Homeless Project." Annals of Internal Medicine 116.4 (1992): 299.] [7: U.S. Census Bureau. "Table 142. Consumer Price Indexes of Medical Care Prices: 1980 to 2010." Census.gov (2011): 1, internet, 28 Jun. 2013. Available: www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0142.pdf.]

A similar study performed in New York City found that a significant percentage of the hospitalization could have been prevented through access to primary care services, such as those due to respiratory problems, trauma, skin diseases, and treatable infections.
[footnoteRef:8] in an effort to reduce the unnecessary use of emergency department services and acute-care hospitalizations by the homeless, a partnership was formed between the county hospital in Savannah, Georgia, the primary care provider for the local indigent population, and community-based primary care providers.[footnoteRef:9] This program was so successful in reducing the costs associated with treating the homeless that the hospital eventually increased its financial commitment from $250,000 to $375,000. The savings realized was at least $1 million for every $375,000 the hospital invested in satellite primary care providers. [8: Sharon a. Salit et al., "Hospitalization Costs Associated with Homelessness in New York City." New England Journal of Medicine 338 (1998): 1734.] [9: Robert a. Colvin. "Seeding Community Partnerships in Providing Medical Care that Lowers Cost of Care." Journal of Healthcare Management 50.5 (2005): 343.]

Imagine the savings that could be realized by not only building and supporting the hygiene centers for the homeless, but through the pairing of these centers with primary care and other service providers to help California's indigent population stay health and find shelter. Based on the analysis presented above, these centers would more than pay for themselves if they partnered with local hospitals and public health departments. Please consider….....

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